Earth Equity News

Power Plant 'Clunkers' Given a Free Ride in House Climate Bill. By Kari Lyderson, WashPost, August 17, 2009. "The nation's fleet of aging coal-fired power plants, a handful of them in the heart of urban areas, including Detroit, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Alexandria (where the Potomac River Generating Station has long stirred controversy)... [have been] grandfathered in under the 1977 Clean Air Act and largely exempted from its requirement that facilities use the best pollution-control technology. 'Those are the clunkers of the power-plant world,' said Brian Urbaszewski, director of environmental health programs for the Respiratory Health Association of Metropolitan Chicago... Advocates hope the climate-control legislation pending in Congress would force these plants to close. But they also warn that, depending how various aspects of the bill play out, it could instead motivate companies to increase their reliance on archaic plants. If a climate-change bill drives up the cost of opening new plants, but provides free emissions allowances or potential carbon offsets for existing facilities, companies could have an incentive to squeeze even more power out of their old plants, many of which are running well below capacity. Some environmental groups are urging the Senate to include in its version of the legislation provisions to prevent that. But the legislation passed by the House in late June -- known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act -- mandates a 50% carbon reduction by 2025 for new plants, but puts no site-specific carbon-reduction requirements on existing facilities."